Mercedes set to withdraw team from Formula 1 by 2014?
14 August, 2012
Aug.14 (GMM) Mercedes is considering a partial withdrawal from Formula One at the end of the 2013 world championship season, according to Auto Hebdo who are basing the reports on the Stuttgart carmaker’s dissatisfaction with certain developments within the sport at the highest level.
Mercedes, who are yet to agree a new Concorde Agreement deal with Bernie Ecclestone, reportedly could then field only a semi-official team from 2014.
Mercedes would however continue to supply customer engines, as it does currently to McLaren and Force India, whilst its ‘semi-official’ works team might become known as ‘AMG F1′, Auto Hebdo said.
AMG is Mercedes’ high-performance arm.
The magazine speculated that Brackley based AMG F1, currently known as Mercedes AMG, would continue to be run by team boss Ross Brawn, with Michael Schumacher in the cockpit.
But Mercedes would focus more strongly on engineering than team ownership and management, Auto Hebdo said.
It is likely that F1′s only engine suppliers in 2014 will be Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari, meaning they all could take on more customers for the new V6 rules.
Reasons cited for Mercedes’ rumoured change of direction are the Gerhard Gribkowsky corruption scandal involving F1′s chief executive Ecclestone, and the latter’s push for Mercedes to make a long-term pledge to the sport.
Another reason mentioned is Mercedes’ lack of success with its full works team since 2010, despite Nico Rosberg’s breakthrough win from pole in Shanghai this year.
Subbed by AJN.
Related posts:
- Mercedes boosts Schumacher’s team for Valencia
- Shareholders to decide fate of Mercedes F1 team
- Mercedes: We are a small team, with a small budget
- 2012 F1 Preview: Team-by-team season quick guide
- Mercedes only expect to be title contenders by 2014
F1 changed into mud-slinging contest…sad that the sport must go through all this…with races going to less “watching-F1-crazy-fans” countries & all this going on..don’t be surprised when the sport slides back to a 3rd grade watching sport…and the Mercedes saga is not good for the fans either..having six champions on the grid (even if some guys do not like Schumacher on the grid)…is good for the sport..easy to say he’s not winning…those guys must still get to his 91 wins & 7 titles..
But yes…all this makes F1 what it is…
Mercedes’s car this year is not upto standards with the Redbulls,Mclarens,Ferraris or even lotuses.the car is fundamentally correct but its development pace Mercedes is losing.Schumi’s qualifying pace has been superb(even better then Rosberg’s) so Michael has still got it and lost nothing of his charm and pace.
@dream on
A good young driver like (inexperienced) ? Like who ? Kamui? Bruno? They can’t even find the correct setup of their cars on a given weekend let alone help mercedes in the development.
Mercedes sucks and can’t provide the right car for Schumi. He needs a better team/car. Without Schumi in Mercedes development, Nico would be one of them “good young drivers” who would never win a race. Nico is nobody without Schumi in the team.
Well if you look at the car, you can see that Mercedes are not serious about their F1 adventure. Well some might, but it is a very split opinion with in the company.
If they were serious, Mercedes-Benz would strike out every time you look at the car. AMG wouldn’t just be a part of team name but also visible on a car, everywhere. There wouldn’t be many dodgy bank and investing fund sponsoring on the car. It would have been Mobil1 and some proud German name that Mercedes associate them self with and there wouldn’t be crying over picking up few cents from a Concord Agreement.
Mercedes as a company put half effort into this project and in F1 you don’t win if you don’t go all out.
Mercedes will go the way of Toyota , i.e. throw a sh*tload of money at it , still little of it sticks to the wall . so the failed pebbledashers will beat a retreat with the smell of broken piston rings nauseating in their nostrils . “” I coulda bin a contendah!”
I Have Not Seen LOTUS Win Any Race In 2012.
I Have Not Seen SAUBER Win Any Race In 2012.
With The 2012 Rules, 9 Races To Go And Rain Being A Huge Possibility In 2 Or 3 More Races, Do Not Kill MERCEDES Just Yet.
I Want To See MICHAEL On The Podium Again.
“If You Do Not Reach For The Glimpse Of An Open Door, You Are No Longer A Racing Driver” !
@Lio
What makes you think any other team even wants Schumacher. I bet outside of Mercedes Schumacher will find it very lonely.
If Mercedes were smart they would dump Schumacher and find a good young driver to replace him.
@Lol.
I think by the time BrawnGP was bought the RB05 was the class of the field, not the BGP001, which lost every race after Monza.
Braun will get Newey for 2014 to form their new team.lol
Mercedes is slow as an F1 car as well as road car – period.
Michael should go to a different F1 team who can provide a real winning car.
Just stating the facts.
@Andrewf1
Of course they have. They buy the world championship winning team of 2009, and since then win only a single race. They have been nothing short of poor.
This year they can’t even challenge lotus. They’re being pushed by Sauber. How is this not a failure? They did better as a small budget team than they have done as a huge manufacturer. They’re embarrassing themselves.
Ferrari haven’t won a title since 2007, but they pushed hard for it in 2008, 2010 and now in 2012. Mercedes have done nothing since 1950s, and in 3 years of theyre return (after buying the world champions) they have won one race, with a team comprising of ross brawn, michael schumacher and the up-and-coming nico rosberg.
People say ferrari have lost it, or mclaren have lost it, and then claim that mercedes are doing well? Give me a break.
@Flick – Mercedes are f1 biggest failure in recent years? Oh get a grip, drama-queen. It might not have been as they wanted, but it hasn’t been a failure.
They told Ross Brawn last year to start recruiting engineers – about 100 people – and now they started downsizing the operation, meaning they changed their minds.
Maybe Merc thought they’d come to F1 and everybody would suddenly put them on the same level as Ferrari or McLaren just because of the brand.
I guess Bernie showed them the finger.
This has been on the cards for a long time after the Daimler shareholder called on Mercedes to pull its works Mercedes team out of Formula 1
Mercedes are f1 biggest failure in recent years.
Mercedes can’t take the moral high ground over the Gribkowsky scandal …
Between 1998 and 2008, Mercedes parent company bribed government officials from 22 different countries.
They were caught.
They were made to pay $185,000,000 in fines.
Maybe Mercedes shouldn’t have been allowed to rename Brawn when they have such a scandalous background.
The only reason they would withdraw, is because they haven’t got the depth of engineering talent to compete at the top of motor sport.